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We are proud to call our faculty research associates part of the RRI family. And as in any family, sharing information helps to strengthen bonds. In academia, it also provides one another with background information that may be useful in identifying collaborators and establishing relationships for future publications and research.

Therefore, each quarter, we will be profiling a different faculty research associate.

We never know what experiences during our childhood will shape our future. For Dr. Xiaoli Etienne, Assistant Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics, it was the trips she spent with her father visiting farms in rural China. As her father, who worked for the local government’s agricultural division, conducted field surveys, young Xiaoli was learning one of life’s harsh lessons― that each year poor farmers in China were taking life-or-death financial risks, and it was this revelation that drove her to choose agricultural economics as her career.

In college, Etienne learned that applied economics is a critical tool to understand poverty and risk as well as to explain social phenomena and human behavior, solve real-world problems, and educate policymakers. Through applied economics, she would be able to benefit everyone involved in the economy, including the poor farmers in China.

Currently, Etienne is working on various issues in food, agricultural, and energy markets, in particular those related to price volatility. Her short-term goals are ambitious: to broaden her research fields (including regional analysis) while maintaining her research productivity in the area of commodity market analysis. “Eventually I would like to establish myself as an expert in agricultural and resource economics, as an educator that inspires others to dream bigger and motivates them to work harder, and as an economist that contributes to policy-making that challenges the status quo and creates a better world,” Etienne said. Some of the researchers in her field that she admires and respects include, but are not limited to, Holbrook Working, William Tomek, Eugene Fama, Bruce Gardner, and Anne Peck.

She and her husband, an assistant professor in WVU’s Department of Mathematics, came to the University in 2014. Xiaoli was drawn by WVU’s high research productivity, particularly its energy-related research, and she was particularly excited that the University encourages and fosters creativity, offers a friendly working environment, and is close to Washington D.C. and Pittsburgh, PA.

“I have found the people in Davis College are quite friendly and hard-working, and my colleagues and students commit themselves to their work,” Etienne said. “They are a constant motivator for me to tackle research problems, and while everyone is willing to share their views or advice, I am particularly grateful and indebted to Dean Robison and my division chair Gerard D’Souza, both of whom have assisted me in my professional development and are there when I need advice to handle a challenging situation.”

The findings for some of her research have been surprising. Recently, for example, she and her Ph.D. student Alexandre Scarcioffolo investigated spatial price integration of natural gas markets in various regional markets in the U.S. Historically, Etienne points out, natural gas was one of the most highly regulated markets in the U.S., but this changed in the late 1970s when the industry began to deregulate amid natural gas shortages. One interesting question emerged: has the deregulation achieved its intended goal of developing a nationwide spot market that efficiently allocates natural gas? To find the answer, Etienne and Scarcioffolo evaluated the degree to which regional markets in the U.S. natural gas industry are connected and the role each market plays in the determination of national prices. The unexpected finding was that while the regional markets have become more integrated over time, the integration process seems to have slowed down recently.

“In particular,” Etienne said, “the spillover index we constructed—which measures how a shock in one market affects the price in another market―has declined over the past few years. This is surprising because this corresponds to the recent shale boom that has flooded the market with cheap natural gas.” Given the increasing completion, she expected the regional markets to be more connected. “However, this may not be that surprising after all since natural gas demand, particularly in the short run, is quite inelastic. This means that shocks in one market may have a smaller impact on another market when the overall price level is low. The issue can further be complicated by pipeline capacity constraints, a lack of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facilities, and other regional-specific demand and supply factors.”

Etienne incorporates many regional elements into her research and classes. In addition to the natural gas market integration paper, she is currently investigating the determinants of price linkages between various regional natural gas markets in the U.S. Such factors may include the geographic distance, pipeline transmission capacity, industry growth, and development of renewable energy, just to name a few. “This is a multifaceted problem, and we are tackling it from both spatial and time series perspectives,” Etienne said. In another paper, which is still in the early exploratory stage, she plans to use input-output models to estimate the economic impacts of rising foreign competition in the international markets faced by the U.S. grain sectors. “This is a very timely issue because the U.S.’s role as the leading grain exporter in the world is being challenged by South American countries,” Etienne said.

Etienne suggests that graduate students aiming for success would do well to sharpen their programming skills, particularly “R” and Matlab. In an era of big data, she says, the ability to efficiently process, clean, analyze, and make inferences from data are the essential skills for applied economists.

Some of her accomplishments include more than 24 publications in professional journals, conference proceedings, and the popular press (articles for the general public), refereeing articles for more than twenty professional journals, serving on various committees within WVU and in the profession, advising a number of Ph.D. and M.S. students, and teaching two graduate classes and one undergraduate course. She was awarded the Divison’s outstanding researcher in 2015 and was named a 2015 Big XII faculty fellow. More recently, one of her papers was listed as the top 10 most cited articles in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics (AJAE) in 2017, the profession’s top journal.

With all the demands on her time, it’s hard to imagine how she can find time for activities outside her academic life. She finds balance by following time management expert Laura Vanderkam who says, “Time is highly elastic. We cannot make more time, but time will stretch to accommodate what we need or want to put into it.” Through Vanderkam’s Ted talk titled “How to Gain Control of your Free time,” Etienne learned that managing time is about choosing priorities. She enjoys spending time with her husband and two little boys and traveling around the world with them; her goal is to visit all states in the U.S. (26 so far), all provinces in China (16 so far), and all continents in the world (5 so far; only Africa and Australia remain).

The Regional Research Institute Summer Course in spatial Econometrics is scheduled for June 25 through June 28, 2018 at the Regional Research Institute located at 886 Chestnut Ridge Road in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Description:

The objective of the course is to provide a (not so short) introduction to spatial econometrics. Students will learn how to model and incorporate spatial dependencies into their empirical analyses. The course will cover basic as well as more advanced concepts ranging from the different typologies of spatial data, through the definition of connectivity in space (spatial weights matrices), to a comprehensive treatment of various spatial econometric models, both crosssectional as well as panel. Estimation methods presented will include MLE (maximum likelihood), GMM (generalized method of moments), GLS (generalized least squares), and GS2SLS (generalized spatial two-stage least squares). The latter part of the course will deal with special topics such as panel data models and various testing procedures.

Instructor:

Gianfranco Piras, Associate Professor of Economics, The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.

Organization:

The courses are organized into a format that includes morning (theoretical) lectures and afternoon computing lab and applications sessions. A reading list will be provided for each of the topics covered.

Applications Period Opens: January 8, 2018
Extended Application Deadline: April 23, 2018
Acceptance Notification: Two days after application is received.
Confirm Participation by April 27, 2018

Important Dates:

Applicants should submit a curriculum vitae and a brief statement of interest to the RRI . Applicants will be screened for suitable levels of preparation and background, and placed into the course on a first-come, first-served basis.

Fees:

Course fees are $3,000. Fees cover course tuition, lunches and course material. Submitted fees will be non-refundable. Accommodation and other living expenses are not included. A block of rooms will be reserved at nearby hotels at a discounted rate.

Additional information about lodging will be available at a later date.

Regional Research Frontiers, Volume 1 and Volume 2 was released this past spring by Springer as a part of their Advances in Spatial Science series. Edited by Randall Jackson, Director of the Regional Research Institute (RRI), Professor of Geology and Geography, and Adjunct Professor of Economics at West Virginia University and Peter V. Schaeffer, Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Adjunct Professor of Economics, and RRI Faculty Research Associate, the two-volume book comprises 37 authors and almost 700 pages.

Click here for more information about Regional Research Frontiers – Volume 1 and Volume 2.

Elham Erfanian and Amir Borges Ferreira Neto, two RRI graduate research assistants, were co-recipients of the monetary award for Best Paper in Economics by a Graduate Student at the Academy of Economy and Finance. The presentation took place at the Academy’s 54th annual conference in late February in Charleston, SC.

The Academy is celebrating its 50th year; its mission is to support the increasing role played by financial economists and finance specialists. Originally more regional in nature, it began in Mississippi, its membership base had expanded over the years to include members from many states in addition to areas outside the borders of the United States.

Erfanian, also a doctoral candidate in Agricultural and Resource Economics, said, “I am so glad to win the award. We started the paper from an assignment for our econometrics II course. Adding a spatial dimension to the research enabled us to ask more questions about the effects that R&D elements has on research output. Incorporating spatial dimension and measuring neighboring effects helps regional economists to incorporate the spillover effects in research and development literature and that leads to more realistic policy implementations.”

Borges Ferreira Neto had this to say, “I am very happy to have won the outstanding graduate student paper award in Economics as it tells me I am on the right path as a researcher. With respect to regional science, this paper’s main contribution is to re-introduce the importance of looking at this other facet of innovation, namely, the production of science (journal articles) instead of usual measure: patents.”

The name of the winning paper they co-authored is Scientific output: labor or capital intensive? An analysis for selected countries. In the paper, they explain why “policy-makers should understand how the different inputs – namely labor and capital – are related to a country’s scientific output.” They address this issue by “estimating output elasticities for labor and capital using a panel of 31 countries in nine years.”

Dr. Randall Jackson, RRI Director had this to say about the winners, “We are very proud of Elham and Amir, who have now joined the ranks of other RRI graduate student award winners. Recognitions like these reinforce the value and benefits of direct graduate student participation in funded research projects, from inception through research communications.”

The two authors have had their paper published in Scientometrics, Volume 112(1) pp. 461-482. Scientometrics is an international journal for all quantitative aspects of the science of science, communication in science and science policy.

In line with an Economic Development Administration research project on Regional Innovation Systems, RRI researchers set about to gain firsthand technology transfer experience by developing its own commercial software. In the process, we gained valuable insights into copyrighting, licensing, and other steps in the tech transfer process. These efforts produced not only academic insights and outcomes, but we also now have in hand the software, called IO-Snap (Input-Output State and National Analysis Program).

A Demo/Trial version is available now, and the Pro version, which will have greater sectoral detail and more years of data, will be released in coming weeks. The Demo/Trial version is ideal for classroom use, and we expect it to continue to be free to all users. Once the IO-Snap Pro is released, it will available at no cost to users within WVU; however, there will be a cost to users outside WVU.

To get your copy or learn more about IO-Snap, including video tutorials, please visit the IO-Snap Website.

If you decide to download your own copy, you will be taken to a typical product purchase page. You will need to enter all but the credit card/financial info to get the product link.

Amir Borges Ferreira Neto is a graduate research assistant in the RRI and a doctoral candidate in the College of Business and Economics. Just recently, he became a recipient of the W. Marston and Katharine B. Becker Doctoral Fellows Endowment. The Beckers are both WVU alumni.

Borges Ferreira Neto said, “I am honored and grateful to have been awarded this prestigious fellowship.” He continues, “On the one hand, the fellowship will allow me the opportunity to focus on both my doctoral and my personal research, which are consistent with the donors’ expectations of regional and public policy-oriented research. On the other hand, over the next couple of years I will be able to complement my doctoral training with teaching experience while continuing to maintain focus on my research.”

This fellowship is awarded to the top students by the Center for Free Enterprise at WVU and is based on a student’s ability to communicate basic economic principles through research on state policy. Fellows are expected to engage in the ongoing dialogue on state economic policy through public speaking opportunities and new commentary and publications. Borges Ferreira Neto explained, “Because of this fellowship, I expect to finish my doctoral program with both research and teaching experience concurrent to publishing and participating in conferences to strengthen network opportunities.”

Students are awarded a $20,000 annual stipend to work on research relevant to West Virginia economic policy while pursuing doctoral studies.